Prosecutors in the USA have charged Red Carnation Hotels chief executive Beatrice Tollman with a multimillion dollar tax evasion.
David Kelley, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has filed a seven-count complaint charging Tollman with the funnelling of millions of dollars through a secret offshore account.
The charges came on the same day Tollman's son Brett was sentenced to more than two years in prison and fined $3.5m (£1.9m) for his involvement in the same scheme. Tollman's husband, Stanley, has already been indicted on the charges and is currently a fugitive of justice in London.
The US Department of Justice alleges that the Tollmans funnelled more than $35m (£19m) through secret bank accounts in the Channel Islands between 1994 and 1999 and failed to report the income in their federal tax returns.
Prosecutors claim that Beatrice Tollman fled the USA last year, and, using fake names including "Toni", "Vicki" and "Chantelle", persuaded bankers to fly to London to deliver her cash from the offshore accounts.
Brett Tollman pleaded guilty to his involvement in two tax-evasion schemes using Tollman-Hundley Hotels, a private company based in New York that owned and managed several Days Inn hotels across the USA, and the Travel Corporation, the parent company of Red Carnation Hotels.
No one from Red Carnation in the UK was available for comment.
Red Carnation runs hotels in Geneva, Florida, Cape Town and London, including the Chesterfield in Mayfair, the Milestone in Knightsbridge and 41 on Buckingham Palace Road.
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 18 - 24 March 2004